RELEX

RELEX Summarizes the Results of Year 2016

Last Friday, the final press conference organized by Russoft company and devoted to the export of Russian software in 2016 was held in Moscow. Igor Boychenko, the CEO, represented RELEX Group.

At the press conference, the leading Russian IT companies shared their experience, results and prospects of exporting Russian software products and development services. All the conference participants agreed that despite the difficult geopolitical and economic situation in the world, there are positive tendencies in the Russian IT industry. According to the Russoft Association analysts, the software export in 2015 grew by 12%, and the expected growth in 2016 is 11%. Another fact proving the increasing value of the IT industry for the Russian economy is the annual speech of the President of Russia for the Federal Assembly in which he compared the IT export with the defense industry export.

Igor Boychenko, the CEO of RELEX Group, spoke about the results of the year. According to him, the company has a stable optimum balance between the profit on the domestic and foreign market, and year 2016 was no exception. This year, the company has signed several partnership agreements and won some new clients, both in Russia and overseas. DBMS Linter was cited as an example of successful export of the company’s own software product: the system was purchased by the Japanese company Brycen according to a licensing agreement, and is now widely used as a DBMS for М2М and IoT solutions.

The press conference participants also discussed the problems faced by companies striving to enter the international market: the negative image of Russia, low attractiveness for investors, currency exchange rate etc. And even on the domestic market there are some pitfalls awaiting software solution developers. The government’s course on import substitution to protect Russian developers from Western competitors did not bring IT companies the expected results. The process of including products in the Uniform Register of Russian Software is not fully perfected yet, while the process of software purchasing by government agencies is not always transparent.

“To be a competitive company on the international market today, developing a high-quality and in-demand product is not enough. The market calls for more, there are certain criteria that the company should match. Both in Russia and on the international market, it is critical to develop full-scale partner relationships with companies whose competencies complement each other. In this respect, the contribution of Russoft cannot be underestimated. On the domestic market, it is equally important to provide the highest priority to domestic solutions, even if at the moment they are inferior to their foreign counterparts in some respects. This is one of the key conditions for making the Russian IT industry competitive”, - said Igor Boychenko, the CEO of RELEX Group.